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Favorite non-operatic artists #3: The YouTube Stars

Hey, everyone!
Today you’re gonna learn more about my non-operatic interests which I’m
listening to on my mp3 player at this moment. What’s surprising about them is
that both music bands are from YouTube. I have to admit that earlier in my life
I was too sceptical about so-called «YouTube stars». I thought they were mostly
untalented. But about 3 years ago I discovered «the other side» of YouTube and it
changed my mind completely. Now I’m open to unknown and gifted artists who make
music just because they love it. The most successful of them are now releasing
their own CDs and even going on tours! And that’s incredible and proves that
the real talent will find its audience anyway!!!

The Piano Guys is an American music group consisting of Jon Schmidt
(pianist, songwriter), Steven Sharp
Nelson (cellist,
songwriter), Paul Anderson (producer, videographer), and Al van der Beek (music
producer, songwriter). The story of how they met is very interesting. Paul
Anderson owned a piano shop called «The Piano Guys». One day Jon Schmidt
came in his shop and asked if he could play an instrument there to practice
before the upcoming concert. Paul was so impressed by Jon’s playing that he
suggested him making music videos as a promotion for the shop and Jon’s talent.
They agreed. Later they were joined by Jon’s friend Steven Sharp
Nelson and Al van der
Beek as a music technician. Working together, they’ve quickly become popular within
Youtube fans. By now their channel has reached over 700 million views! In 2012 The
Piano Guys signed the contract with Sony and they’ve already released several
albums.

These guys are
famous for their unique interpretation of pop songs like «What makes you
beautiful» by OneDirection, «Just the way you are» by Bruno Mars and for absolutely
stunning mash-ups where they demonstrate their classical background: Let it Go
(Disney’s Frozen)/ Vivaldi’s Winter, Beethoven’s 5 Secrets – OneRepublic etc. I
love the way one melody turns into another one in mash-ups like it was
originally composed so. Besides, The Piano Guys often collaborate with folk
artists to add some ethnic motifs to the sound. And that works great as well!
The most striking examples are «Peponi» (the African cover of Coldplay’s «Paradise»)
and «Don't You Worry Child (Khushnuma)» (the Indian version of Swedish House
Mafia’s hit).

But I think the
music arrangements are only a half of their success. The other half definitely
belongs to a visual side of their works. Paul Anderson has always wanted to
shoot videos in the most unusual and ambitious places on earth. So that’s why
many clips are filmed near natural landmarks (like The Iguazu Falls in Brazil),
the Wonders of the World (like The Great Wall of China) or near historical
monuments (The Sri Sri Radha Krsna Temple). The views are just mind-blowing
there!!! I can hardly imagine how they transported the piano and other things
to achieve this incredible outcome! Even if you are not interested in covers
like that, you should watch their videos to at least admire the beauty of our
planet! So these «Guys» are real workaholics and they deserve each view they
have on the YouTube channel.

Scott Bradley’s Postmodern Jukeboxor just PMJ is an American group that I’m
listening to non-stop right now. «I make music sound old» - says the PMJ’s leader
Scott Bradley on his tweeter page. And that’s true. Bradley has always been
fond of jazz, blues, whereas his classmates preferred pop, r’n’b. To unite people
of different tastes in music he started playing covers of popular songs in the
styles of jazz, ragtime, swing firstly at school and later at restaurants. Then
he decided to go bigger and formed a band «Postmodern Jukebox». The group began
posting music videos on YouTube and gradually they gained popularity! By this
time, PMJ has about 300 million views and over 1.4 million subscribers! Scott
Bradley with his colleagues goes on tours to North America, New Zealand, Australia
and Europe and releases EP albums.

Why do I love this
band so much? As I’ve mentioned before I’m a huge fan of jazz and PMJ
transforms songs in such a fantastic way that I can’t listen to original
arrangements of the hits anymore! Besides promoting jazz to the masses, Bradley
likes introducing not so widely known but talented musicians to his audience.
Especially, it concerns the soloists. Haley Reinhart, Morgan James, Robyn Adele
Anderson – due to the beautiful voices and appearances these girls have already
become favorites for many PMJ fans. Among other amazing artists of this project
I’d like to mention a tap dancer Sarah Reich. She is such an adorable and
charismatic person that you can’t take your eyes off her when she is doing her
job!

Bradley and Co
are very thoughtful not only about the musical presentation of their videos but
also about the visual component. Depending on a chosen music style, they wear
the appropriate clothes whether it is 20s, 40s or 50s. Altogether, it looks «old-fashioned»
in the best sense of this word;).

P.S. Guys, do you know these groups and what do you think
of them? Could you recommend me other gifted musicians from YouTube who are
worth listening to?

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